Sane

sane is a command runner made simple.

What

sane is:

• A single Python file, providing
• A decorator (@recipe), and a function (sane_run)

sane does not:

• Have its own domain specific language,
• Have an install process,
• Require anything other than python3,
• Restrict your Python code.

Why

• More portable

At ~600 lines of code in a single file, sane is extremely portable, being made to be distributed alongside your code base. Being pure Python makes it cross-platform and with an extremely low adoption barrier. sane does not parse Python, or do otherwise "meta" operations, improving its future-proofness. sane aims to do only as much as reasonably documentable in a single README, and aims to have the minimum amount of gotchas, while preserving maximum flexibility.

• More readable

Its simple syntax and operation make it easy to understand and modify your recipe files. Everything is just Python, meaning neither you nor your users have to learn yet another domain specific language.

• More flexible

You are free to keep state as you see fit, and all correct Python is valid. sane can function as a build system or as a command runner.

Example

Below is a sane recipes file to compile a C executable (Makefile style).

"""make.py

Exists in the root of a C project folder, with the following structure


   └ make.py
   └ sane.py
   │
   └ src
      └ *.c (source files)

The `build` recipe will build an executable at the root.
The executable can be launched with `python make.py`.
"""

import os
from subprocess import run
from glob import glob

from sane import *
from sane import _Help as Help

CC = "gcc"
EXE = "main"
SRC_DIR = "src"
OBJ_DIR = "obj"

COMPILE_FLAGS = '-g -O2'

# Ensure source and objects directories exist
os.makedirs(SRC_DIR, exist_ok=True)
os.makedirs(OBJ_DIR, exist_ok=True)

sources = glob(f'{SRC_DIR}/*.c')

# Define a compile recipe for each source file in SRC_DIR
for source_file in sources:
    basename = os.path.basename(source_file)
    obj_file = f'{OBJ_DIR}/{basename}.o'
    objects_older_than_source = (
        Help.file_condition(sources=[source_file], targets=[obj_file]))
    
    @recipe(name=source_file,
            conditions=[objects_older_than_source],
            hooks=['compile'],
            info=f'Compiles the file \'{source_file}\'')
    def compile():
        run(f'{CC} {COMPILE_FLAGS} -c {source_file} -o {obj_file}', shell=True)

# Define a linking recipe
@recipe(hook_deps=['compile'],
        info='Links the executable.')
def link():
    obj_files = glob(f'{OBJ_DIR}/*.o')
    run(f'{CC} {" ".join(obj_files)} -o {EXE}', shell=True)

# Define a run recipe
@recipe(recipe_deps=[link],
        info='Runs the compiled executable.')
def run_exe():
    run(f'./{EXE}', shell=True)

sane_run(run_exe)

The Flow of Recipes

sane uses recipes, conditions and hooks.

Recipe: A python function, with dependencies (on either/both other recipes and hooks), hooks, and conditions.

Conditions: Argument-less functions returning True or False.

Hook: A non-unique indentifier for a recipe. When a recipe depends on a hook, it depends on every recipe tagged with that hook.

The dependency tree of a given recipe is built and ran with sane_run(recipe). This is done according to a simple recursive algorithm:

0. Starting with the root recipe,
1. If the current recipe has no conditions or dependencies, register it as active
2. Otherwise, if any of the conditions is satisfied or dependency recipes is active, register it as active.
3. Sort the active recipes in descending depth and order of enumeration,
4. Run the recipes in order.

In concrete terms, this means that if

• Recipe A depends on B
• B has some conditions and depends on C
• C has some conditions

then

• If any of B's conditions is satisfied, but none of C's are, B is called and then A is called
• If any of C's conditions is satisfied, C, B, A are called in that order
• Otherwise, nothing is ran.

The @recipe decorator

Recipes are defined by decorating an argument-less function with @recipe:

@recipe(name='...',
        hooks=['...'],
        recipe_deps=['...'],
        hook_deps=['...'],
        conditions=[...],
        info='...')
def my_recipe():
    # ...
    pass

name: The name ('str') of the recipe. If unspecified or None, it is inferred from the __name__ attribute of the recipe function. However, recipe names must be unique, so dynamically created recipes (from, e.g., within a loop) typically require this argument.

hooks: list of strings defining hooks for this recipe.

recipe_deps: list of string names that this recipe depends on. If an element of the list is not a string, a name is inferred from the __name__ attribute, but this may cause an error if it does not match the given name.

hook_deps: list of string hooks that this recipe depends on. This means that the recipe implicitly depends on any recipe tagged with one of these hooks.

conditions: list of callables with signature () -> bool. If any of these is True, the recipe is considered active (see The Flow of Recipes for more information).

info: a description string to display when recipes are listed with --list.

sane_run

sane_run(default=None, cli=True)

This function should be called at the end of a recipes file, which will trigger command-line arguments parsing, and run either the command-line provided recipe, or, if none is specified, the defined default recipe. (If neither are defined, an error is reported, and the program exits.)

(There are exceptions to this: --help, --list and similars will simply output the request information and exit.)

By default, sane_run runs in "CLI mode" (cli=True). However, sane_run can also be called in "programmatic mode" (cli=False). In this mode, command-line arguments will be ignored, and the default recipe will be ran (observing dependencies, like in CLI mode). This is useful if you wish to programmatically call upon a recipe (and its subtree).

To see the available options and syntax when calling a recipes file (e.g., make.py), call

python make.py --help

Installation

It is recommended to just include sane.py in the same directory as your project. You can do this easily with curl

curl 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mikeevmm/sane/master/sane.py' > sane.py

However, because it's convenient, sane is also available to install from PyPi with

pip install sane-build

Miscelaneous

_Help

sane provides a few helper functions that are not included by default. These are contained in a Help class and can be imported with

from sane import _Help as Help

Help.file_condition

Help.file_condition(sources=['...'],
                    targets=['...'])

Returns a callable that is True if the newest file in sources is older than the oldest files in targets, or if any of the files in targets does not exist.

sources: list of string path to files.

targets: list of string path to files.

Logging

The sane logging functions are exposed in Help as log, warn, error. These take a single string as a message, and the error function terminates the program with exit(1).

Calling python ... is Gruesome

I suggest defining the following alias

alias sane='python3 make.py'

License

This tool is licensed under an MIT license. See LICENSE for details. The LICENSE is included at the top of sane.py, so you may redistribute this file alone freely.

Support

💕 If you liked sane, consider buying me a coffee.